The Royal Collection Holiday Palette by Tarte

Tarte has introduced The Royal Collection for the holidays, a limited-edition palette with a value price ($43). What a great gift - if you can bear to part with it! I'm always in a "two for me, one for them" mood when I do my Christmas shopping. It's a good thing I don't buy gifts for many makeup addicts.

This dual-level, limited-edition palette with a darling ruffled case - complete with mirror - in Tarte's signature purple is stacked with 16 exclusive shades of eye shadow and deluxe sample sizes of Tarte's best-selling products.

Since the palette doesn't come with a shade map, you'll have to look at my swatches to see the enormous range of the 16 generously sized shadows in the "penthouse compartment."

The first-floor pull-out drawer includes a clean slate natural face primer; lights, camera, lashes! mascara; multiplEYE lash enhancing primer; and vitamin-infused lipgloss. The gloss shade will work for everyone! I've included a photo of it at the bottom of this feature.

I applied each shadow to my arm with a sponge-tipped applicator. The shades stretched from my wrist to my elbow - a rainbow of colors and finishes. My photos were taken in full afternoon sun, the first sun we've seen in a few days. I started on the top row and swatched left to right, moving down the rows, left to right. There are four rows, so there are four eye shadow photos. I'll try to let the swatch photos speak for themselves, but I do have my favorite shades. My favorites won't necessarily be yours.

You can see - I hope - that the finishes range from matte to shimmering. None of them are glittery, so you don't have to worry about fallout. I can't imagine a shade combo you can't create with this splendid palette, which is why I think it would be so hard to give it away.

I'll admit, I do have a few favorites. Look at the first and last photos, and you'll find a couple of shades that are drop-dead gorgeous. The prettiest of the pretty! Is that impartial? Nope - just a personal opinion. Check out the green tone of the second shade from the top in the last eye shadow photo. Combine that on your eyelids with the very last shade, a shimmering silver-green, and you've got a snazzy fall-holiday look that's hard to match.

The golds? Glimmering! The plums? Trendy, wearable fall shades. There's charcoal too, so you can create a gorgeous smoky eye - and punctuate it with color if you'd like.

I did take one photo that shows the full range of shades. Sorry about that little mark on my arm. Trust me; it's not melanoma! It's a little round bruise, and I have no idea what caused it. It just appeared the other day, and it has been slow to absorb. When you use your arm for makeup swatches, you feel a bit like a hand model. My reaction was, "Oh great, how am I going to get photos around this ugly red mark!"

I'll finish up with a photo of the pretty lip gloss that comes with the primers and mascara. Shown at right, it's the perfect light shade to complement an eye with pizazz.

Can you envision the fun you'll have with The Royal Collection? Can you imagine giving it away?

It's available exclusively at three sites. Check out Tarte's Web site first. There's a special offer there. Through October 31, you will save $5 on any purchase of $25 or more with the code TREAT. You can also find it at Beauty.com and Ulta.

Photo at top and palette courtesy of Tarte